Malicious Office (OLE) — malware analysis report

Static analysis result for SHA-256 95d4e8be48086d79…

MALICIOUS

Office (OLE)

35.5 KB Created: 2020-11-27 11:46:56 Authoring application: Microsoft Excel
MD5: 50ac9fbd4b7cb3d90295f8dac2a8030d SHA-1: 162455f1a08ab69344b89a81a9739259d39cc358 SHA-256: 95d4e8be48086d79baed99d248131300080013d0e9dc16f0aef8142027cf0dcd
140 Risk Score

Malware Insights

MITRE ATT&CK
T1059.005 Visual Basic T1203 Exploitation for Client Execution

The file contains Excel 4.0 (XLM) macros, specifically an Auto_Open defined name, which is a critical finding. The presence of dangerous formula APIs like RUN indicates the macro is designed to execute arbitrary code. This strongly suggests the macro's purpose is to download and execute a second-stage payload, a common technique for initial execution.

Heuristics 3

  • Excel 4.0 Auto_Open defined name critical OLE_XLM_AUTOOPEN_DEFINEDNAME
    oletools recovered an Auto_Open / Auto_Close entry from an Excel 4.0 macro sheet. The raw BIFF name can be tokenized or partially opaque to byte-string checks, but the recovered macro listing confirms the workbook has an XLM auto-execution entry.
  • XLM Auto_Open with dangerous formula APIs critical OLE_XLM_DANGEROUS_FN
    Excel 4.0 macro sheet contains an Auto_Open / Auto_Close entry and dangerous XLM formula APIs that can invoke programs, write files, or transfer control without VBA.
  • Excel 4.0 (XLM) macro sheet present medium OLE_XLM_AUTOOPEN
    Workbook contains an Excel 4.0 macro sheet sub-stream — XLM is rarely seen in modern legitimate workbooks and was a major Office malware vector during 2020-2022.

Extracted artifacts 1

Files carved from inside the sample during analysis.

FilenameKindSourceSize
xlm_macros.txt
8215cf7305d8be96f03a2ef342c9091b5d75792ebd0694c114396afcaefd3989		 xlm-macro oletools.olevba.extract_all_macros (XLM macro listing) 6600 bytes

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